Sometimes serious. Sometimes humorous. Always unpredictable. By Dan Pimentel - Welcome to the Airplanista Aviation Blog, where I take a lighthearted look at general and business aviation, the airlines, and the incredible and generous community of aviators called #Avgeeks...they are my aviation family. I am currently available for magazine and corporate writing assignments - Email me here.

Everyone reading this knows of the long history of Stearman biplanes, and that it is not uncommon to find one of them at most any airshow or aviation event. But what you might not know is that only 41 of Stearmans were “Speedmail” versions, a heavier, more powerful model specifically designed to carry more mailbags along the “Contract Air Mail” routes of yesterday. Of that group of airplanes, only seven remain flying today, according to the flight’s website.

Those “C.A.M.” routes began 100 years ago, and to celebrate that anniversary, three perfectly-restored vintage Speedmails recently flew a reenactment of the Contract Air Mail Route 8 (C.A.M. 8) from San Diego to Seattle. After departing Gillespie Field in San Diego, the flight made stops in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, San Francisco and Redding in California; Medford and Eugene in Oregon; Vancouver, Olympia and finally Paine Field in Everett, just north of Seattle, Washington. I was lucky enough to see them on their stop in Eugene.

As I drove to KEUG, I noticed the flight of three out my window as they arrived out of the south at 6,500-feet descending. On final, each Speedmail looked a bit stronger, beefier, more rugged even from a distance than your run-of-the-mill Stearman. They made a pass over the runway before landing and parking at the only FBO on the field, Atlantic Aviation.

U.S. Air Mail Pilot Addison Pemberton doing his "official" duty of stamping letters at the Eugene stop.

On hand to greet them were a group from my local EAA chapter1457, several vintage aircraft enthusiasts, and reps from the United States Postal Service, because this flight was not just for yucks, it was a real air mail flight. USPS even swore in the three Speedmail pilots as “official” air mail pilots, with the rules that came with that title, including dressing in an official air mail pilot uniform of a light brown shirt and black tie. Back in those days, professional pilots – even those schlepping sacks of mail – wore ties at all times. At the USPS tent, “official” air mail carried by the three Speedmails were behind the table where people were getting their letters hand-cancelled with a special C.A.M. 8 stamp.

Stearman sold the Model 4 “Speedmail” to commercial operators in the United States around 1930, building 41 of them before ending production. They were marketed at the time as fast and luxurious executive transports or mail planes, and sold new for about $16,000 USD. There are so few of these gorgeous Speedmails flying today, so it was a joyous event to see three of them in one place. All three were museum-quality restorations, so let’s take a deeper dive into these ships:

Addison Pemberton’s Model 4DM-1
The Pembertons out of Felts Field in Spokane, WA are about as close to aircraft restoration royalty you can get in the United States. Addison, his son Ryan and their families do amazing work, and it shows as NC485W is a simply beautiful airplane.

Addison picked up the remaining parts of his Speedmail from David Tallichet’s storage facilities in California and Kansas, paying $6,000 for a clear title in 1989. Over the next three years, the Wright-powered 4CM-1 was restored/rebuilt to a Sr. Speedmail, 4DM configuration with a 450-HP R-985 Pratt and Whiney engine and a two-place front seat with dual controls. One bit of trivia for you is that NC485W was featured in the Shirley Temple movie “Bright Eyes” while being operated out of Grand Central air terminal in LA.

Jeff Hamilton’s Model 4EM-1
N489W started life in 1931 flying out of Chicago to St. Louis, Atlanta and Dallas for American Airways, the predecessor of American Airlines, on August 5, 1931. It was converted three years later to a two-cockpit aircraft with full controls for "blind flying instruction” before being sold to a crop duster in Mississippi to fly as an aerial sprayer for the next 35 years.

Hamilton said that in 1999, Bud Field restored his Speedmail as an authentic Standard Oil Corporate aircraft, painted in their red, white and blue color scheme with large wheel pants. The airplane was flown very little in the ensuing 17 years before Hamilton purchased the aircraft in 2016, completed the restoration and made several improvements.

Ben Scott’s Model 4EM-1
This Speedmail has a completely amazing story. I think I’m just going to let the Cam8in2018.com website paint this picture:

On November 12, 1929, Keith Scott (Ben’s father) placed his verbal order for a brand new Stearman Model 4E biplane, called a Speedmail Junior. The Junior nomenclature was to differentiate the passenger type from the Seniors, which were mail planes. It was faster than most military pursuit planes, faster than the mail planes of the day. It was also larger than most biplanes, seating one pilot in the rear and two passengers in the big front cockpit.

In 1942, Keith Scott sold the Stearman to Carbury Dusters in Fresno and joined Douglas Aircraft as a production test pilot. The Speedmail became one of several crop dusters, then was left to dissipate in place as newer equipment came out. From 1968 to 1972 it was restored by well-known antiquer Robert Penny, Jr., with the help of Ansel Smith, the mechanic who cared for it from 1930 to 1942.

The airplane spent the next ten years in the Flying Lady Museum in Morgan Hill, California until 1982 when a United Airlines Captain from Denver purchased the airplane. At the time it was the only Model 4E Speedmail flying, so it attracted a lot of attention and won many awards. Later, an old friend sent Keith a newspaper article about it and that led to contact with Dan Wine, the Speedmail’s owner. Eventually Dan came to Reno and Keith’s son, Ben, purchased the airplane for the family’s Cadillac dealership, Scott Motor Company.

On October 17, 1985, Dan delivered the Stearman to Reno. His last entry in the logbook was: “Battle Mountain to Reno. Returned to original owner, Keith Scott. Welcome home!” The first passenger was, of course, Keith Scott. Perhaps, at 81, he was taking his first ride in the passenger front cockpit. Less than a year later he was to have his last ride, as Dan and Ben scattered Keith’s ashes over Mt. Rose.

After Rick Atkins of Ragtime Aero in Placerville, California completed a full restoration in 2003, Ben flew the big Speedmail Oshkosh where it won Grand Champion Antique. Later that year they participated in the National Air Tour, a 4,000-mile barnstorming tour of the eastern U.S. by 30 airplanes, all built before 1932. The Scotts like to get their Speedmail out to the public to keep interest in vintage aviation alive, so in 1998 and 2008, N663K participated in several Air Mail reenactment flights, including one from New York to California. At 88, the “Grand Old Lady” is as beautiful as ever.

The flight of these three Speedmails was to celebrate 100 years of USPS Air Mail service, but C.A.M 8 was contracted in 1925 to Vern C. Gorst, who planned to fly both passengers and mail as Pacific Air Transport. It is interesting to note that the one-way passenger fare for the Seattle to Los Angeles was $132 in 1927, which $1,841.18 in 2018 dollars.

I have written several times on this blog about the importance of the master restoration artists who keep our fleet of vintage airplanes flying. Wrap your mind around the skill it takes to locate a pile of rusted parts with a data plate dangling precariously from one broken bit and restore that to a perfect copy of the ship that is “better than new.” These craftsmen used to be found at every patch in every town in America, people who could cobb a Jenny back to life and make it fly again after being piled up in a farm field.

But today, only a small handful of these master restoration artists are left, and just like every human, the biological clock is ticking. We are all dying, and when these craftsmen go west, I pray their next of kin has the desire and skill to keep the craft alive.

Because if they don’t, if their kids blow off that thing their dad did out in the shop working late nights whittling away at a wooden wing spar, the craft may eventually die. But for now, ships like these three Speedmails continue to grace the skies of the West. They may be flying the same routes for the same reasons, but there are stark changes to be found. Instead of lighted beacons every few miles to guide the pilots, a peek into the cockpit of one of the three Speedmails stopped at Eugene revealed an iPad being used, no doubt running Foreflight.

My guess is the first Air Mail pilots who flew C.A.M. 8 would still recognize the airplanes, but the gizmos in the cockpit would blow their mind. With these three Speedmails, time literally stands still in 1931, while at the same time marching proudly forward by using the best technology available.

If you see are planning to attend EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this year, make sure to stop over in Vintage for a few hours and personally thank the men, women and families that keep these old airplanes flying. It takes a lot of money, time and dedication to show up with an eighty-year-old airplane that has been brought back airworthy condition and keep that way.

And if I see Addison Pemberton, Jeff Hamilton or Ben Scott at Oshkosh this coming July, you can be sure I will shake their paw and thank them for hauling the mail and keeping vintage aviation alive.

There are few aviatrixs in aviation history that can compare to the legend of Florence “Pancho” Barnes, that colorful, eccentric, fearless and stubborn flyer who was known for living a life without regrets.

Lauren Kessler’s book “The Happy Bottom Riding Club – The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes” (HBRC) published in 2000 will take you on a journey through aviation’s golden years, when pilots flew without restrictions, rules or regulations. It’s a splendid book that I consider to be one of aviation’s finest works, full of great descriptions of a day long ago when aviators could do anything they wanted. With every page, Lauren paints a vivid portrait of Pancho’s flamboyant life.

I recently picked up a copy of HBRC at a Eugene (OR) Library Relief sale, and thankfully this copy had been donated and not pulled from the shelves. I have always wanted to read it as I’ve heard over the years it is one of the finest examples of great aviation storytelling. And it is, I assure you.

But in reading the acknowledgments, I noticed Lauren gives credit to Dorothy Schick of Takewing Aviation in Creswell, OR for giving her a first airplane ride in a small GA airplane. Creswell is literally 15 miles south of where I am writing this, and I have taken lessons from Dorothy and rented her airplanes. So I Googled Lauren and was blown away to find out she lives right here in Eugene! I had to know more. In making contact, I arranged to have her speak to my EAA chapter on June 4th, because while I cannot tell the members how to use an English Wheel (honestly wouldn’t know one if I saw one), I can present a very successful author who produced a legendary aviation book.

I sat down digitally with Lauren recently for the first of what I am calling my Airplanista Author Interview Series…and there will be more in the future. Before I get to the interview, let’s take a look at the official book description and get to know Pancho a bit better:

Pancho Barnes was a force of nature, a woman who lived a big, messy, colorful, unconventional life. She ran through three fortunes, four husbands, and countless lovers. She outflew Amelia Earhart, outsmarted Howard Hughes, outdrank the Mexican Army, and out-maneuvered the U.S. government. She was a high-spirited, headstrong woman who was proud of her successes, unabashed by her failures, and the architect of her own legend.

As a California heiress, she was faced with a future of domesticity and upper-crust pretensions when she ran away from her responsibilities as wife and mother to create her own life. She cruised South America. She trekked through Mexico astride a burro. She hitchhiked halfway across the United States. Then, in the late 1920s, she took to the skies, one of a handful of female pilots. She was a barnstormer, a racer, a cross-country flier, and a Hollywood stunt pilot. She was an intimate of movie stars, and, later in life, a drinking buddy of the supersonic jet jockey Chuck Yeager. She ran a wildly successful desert watering hole in the Mojave Desert known as the Happy Bottom Riding Club, the raucous bar and grill depicted in the movie, The Right Stuff.

Now, let’s hear a few words from Lauren on how this book came together:

Airplanista: Let’s start at the beginning…what is the genesis story of how the book deal for HBRC came together? Did you pitch it, or did someone present the project to you?Lauren Kessler: Neither, really. I had worked with Bob Loomis at Random House on a previous book. I wrote him an informal note about Pancho, maybe a page and a half, asking if he thought there was a book in it. My “pitches” are much more involved (I once wrote a 50-page pitch) and I always pitch to my agent first, never an editor. It turned out that Bob was Air Force (I had no idea), was steeped in Pancho stories (mostly untrue) and wanted the book immediately. This sort of serendipity has yet to be repeated..

Airplanista: Once you began researching Pancho, did her story become more intriguing as you peeled back the layers?Lauren Kessler: That’s a major understatement. A story about an early flyer became a story about the golden moment when aviation and Hollywood came together. A story about a brash woman known for her exploits and sailor’s vocabulary became a story about a much more complex and needy woman who paid the price for nonconformity.

Airplanista: Do you have any past aviation experience that drew you to this story, or what it her colorful personality and life?Lauren Kessler: Not in the least. I did not come to this story with an interest in or knowledge of aviation. I was interested in an ill-behaved woman who made history (as the bumpersticker goes). In fact, when I started researching her story, I had not been up in an airplane for close to 25 years (see a blog post about this here).

Airplanista: Did you ever get to meet Pancho Barnes? If yes, what was the experience like? And if no, did you want to meet her?Lauren Kessler: Pancho died many years before I became interested in her story. I did meet her last husband, a piece of work. And I did get to spend quite a bit of time with “desert rats” who knew her.

Airplanista: As you got deeper into the story research, what was the one big discovery that surprised you?Lauren Kessler: How indomitable she was. It wasn’t a matter of being fearless in the sky. It was a matter of being fearless in life. Doing what she wanted and not giving a damn what others thought.

Airplanista: Pancho was a woman who never did care for stereotypes and had no interest in fitting in to the Pasadena elite lifestyle as a young woman. How did her rogue personality serve her later in life?Lauren Kessler: It both served and sabotaged her, I would say. She liked young men, fast cars, big airplanes. She ran through three significant fortunes—and I think she had some fun doing that. But because she didn’t know how to temper her goals, because she always arrived loaded for bear, she made significant enemies, which lead to the downfall of the Happy Bottom Riding Club. And at the end of her life, she was a lonely woman.

Airplanista: Let’s talk about the specifics of writing the book? First, do you have any sales numbers or information on how popular the book was?Lauren Kessler: This is now seven books ago for me. I just don’t keep track that long. I will say that it did well in hardcover, was published in paperback, got me on the David Letterman Show twice and has been optioned for a movie.

Airplanista: How much time in days, months or hours do you think you had into the research of this book?Lauren Kessler: At least a year, perhaps a year and a half.

Airplanista: Did you have fun writing HBRC? As you told the story, did you find you could not wait to get back to the keyboard and write more about Pancho?Lauren Kessler: I love the act of writing. That is why I am a writer. When things go well, there is nothing like it. I feel more alive in that moment than in any other moment in my life. When things are tough—and even the best writing experience has its dark moments—well, it tests the mettle.

Airplanista: I know people who consider this book to be one of aviation’s most iconic works. How was the book received in the aviation community? How about the literary world, what were the reviews like?Lauren Kessler: When the book came out, I went on the road and talked to a lot of aviation folks, from EAA chapters to vintage Ninety-Niners. I was on NPR. I did the David Letterman show, during which he (jokingly) declared HBRC the first book in the Dave Letterman Book Club, in fierce competition with the then-famous Oprah Book Club. Reviews and quotes are here.

Airplanista: What challenges in the research and writing did you have to overcome? Did you ever hit a wall and find you had to dig deep and push past it to keep moving forward?Lauren Kessler: There’s always a challenge in writing about someone you’ve never met. Pancho was an only child, so no siblings to talk to. Her child, Billy, was already dead. Her last husband thought I should pay for his memories. I thought not. So Pancho had to come alive through documents. I had to let the documents (flight logs, lists, letters, court records) speak to me.

Airplanista: You mentioned HBRC was optioned by a film producer. Is that public info, and if yes, tell me more. And tell me what female actress working today would best portray Pancho?Lauren Kessler: I just signed the option agreement, and that’s all I can say about it right now. If the film tried to encompass her WHOLE life, then one actress couldn’t do it. But for the later part of her life, when she moved to the Mojave and opened HBRC, Frances McDormand or Edie Falco. Ya gotta play tough and gritty.

Airplanista: Do you think Pancho Barnes contributed to the acceptance of females as pilots, either directly or indirectly? As a bold female who took no crap from men, if she were alive today and read about the #MeToo movement, what would her advice to women be? Lauren Kessler: Ha! Such an interesting question. My sense is that Pancho did not like women much. She enjoyed the company of men, both as friends and lovers. If I had to guess (and it kind of pains me to say this), I think Pancho might dismiss the #MeToo movement. She might have little patience with it. This is not because she was in favor of -- or, Lord knows, would have put up with, harassment -- but because she would not have understood women who failed to fight back at the moment.

Airplanista: Add anything else here you think my readership would love to know about this book, about you or about Pancho.Lauren Kessler: She was one-of-a-kind and lived the kind of rollicking, devil-may-care life that it is not possible to live any more. So beyond being an aviation story, it is significant as a snapshot of a time gone by.

Ask anyone who owns an airplane, and they always have one gigantic bucket list item that some are able to check off every summer in late July. That is to fly into EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the World’s Largest Aviation Celebration. If they have not done that yet with their bird, chances are they’re planning the most exhilarating of all VFR arrivals.

Each year about this time, the mammoth Oshkosh NOTAM is released, and in PDF form, it is 40 pages. Since EAA has been doing this show for a few decades now, this very specific document is highly refined, and you’d have to be a complete idiot to not follow their instructions and make a safe arrival on one of the many colored dots at KOSH.

I personally have never flown into Oshkosh, at least not as PIC. I was, however lucky enough to arrive at the 2010 show inside Duggy, the DC-3 “Smile in the Sky” as part of their crew that took the friendliest plane in the sky to the Rock Falls, IL “Last Time” DC-3/C-47 reunion. You can read the entire thread of that adventure here (and my photo gallery of the trip is here), but basically we flew the “Warbird Arrival” (Duggy started life as a C-47) to RWY 27, and that dance goes like this (this is not verbatim, so please read and follow the NOTAM):

This arrival starts near Fond du Lac (KFLD) on the south end of Lake Winnebago and is restricted to high-performance turbojet, turboprop, and Warbird aircraft capable of cruising at 130 knots or greater. Proceed from the city of Fond du Lac direct to Warbird Island and descend to maintain 2,800’ MSL within 4 NM from FLD but stay clear of KFLD airspace. Pilots may be instructed to orbit the island making left turns until a landing sequence is issued. When cleared at Warbird Island, proceed to the assigned runway as directed by ATC, reduce speed to 150 knots or less and begin descent to 1,800’ MSL. If your landing clearance appears unsafe because of spacing, speed of preceding aircraft, or any other reason, go around! Pilots may request a 360° “overhead break” fighter pilot approach, with different instructions and altitudes published for various runways. Land on the colored dot as instructed by ATC, and have fun for a week. THIS IS IMPORTANT: When arriving over the shoreline on final to RWY 27, rock your wings vigorously for all the #Avgeeks down below enjoying their burgers, fries and Black Cows on the patio at Ardy and Ed’s Drive-in.

For everyone else arriving VFR, there is the famous Fisk VFR Arrival, which is one of aviation’s most insane but also most exciting ways to get into any airport. On the weekend before the show opens when everyone is arriving, it’s sort of like taking three Los Angeles freeways and shoehorning them all down to one lane, but telling everyone to maintain the exact same speed and spacing between cars. Of course that would never work, but in Oshkosh, the Fisk Arrival has been working fine for years because unlike rude, agitated SUV drivers, [most] pilots read and understand the published NOTAM and are able to follow instructions. That dance is as follows (again don’t take my word for it READ THE NOTAM):This procedure is to be used by all VFR aircraft landing at KOSH from the Friday preceding the show through Sunday the last day of the show. The procedure starts at Ripon, WI (15 NM SW of Oshkosh) and pilots are told to follow a railroad track from Ripon to Fisk, WI. A temporary FAA “control tower/trailer” at Fisk controls traffic flow and assigns OSH landing runways and approach paths. Approaching Ripon, ensure lights are on within 30 miles of OSH and obtain Arrival ATIS no later than 15 miles from Ripon. Arrive at Ripon at 90 knots and 1,800’. For aircraft unable to operate comfortably at 90 knots, faster aircraft can use 135 knots and 2,300’. Proceed single file, directly over the railroad tracks from Ripon northeast to Fisk and remain at least one-half-mile in-trail behind any aircraft you are following. Do not overtake another aircraft unless authorized by ATC. If possible, lower your landing gear prior to reaching Fisk.

I had the golden opportunity to visit the temporary FAA approach control at Fisk a few years back, and it is pure ATC magic watching the best of NATCA’s controllers work a flood of GA traffic, coming from all directions and squeezing them into a single-file inbound Conga line. Once they get to Fisk, the fun really begins (my translation from the NOTAM):

At Fisk, controllers will call your aircraft by color and type (usually high-wing, low-wing, biplane etc), and no verbal responses are required, you are instructed to ROCK YOUR WINGS to acknowledge you have your final approach instructions. Transition instructions to the airport will either be “Follow the railroad tracks northeast” or “Reaching Fisk, turn right and follow east/west road (Fisk Ave.)”. Pilots should be prepared for a combination of maneuvers that may include a short approach with descending turns, followed by touchdown at a point specified by ATC which may be almost halfway down the runway on one of the famous colored dots.

One of the things that can trip up pilots inbound to Fisk is that if something closes the airport, they will be required to hold in one of two areas. Aircraft at or beyond Ripon must continue to Fisk and enter the Rush Lake holding pattern, while aircraft approaching Ripon should watch for traffic to follow and enter the hold at Green Lake. But if holds are required during “rush hour” things can get interesting very fast:

In a “Holding pattern saturation” situation, if the Green Lake holding pattern is reported to be nearing capacity, stay clear and proceed no further. Instead, make left turns over a point on the ground and continue to hold until ATC advises you to proceed or to transition into one of the published holding patterns.

So suddenly, the Conga line is told to all make various “left turns over a point on the ground” where they are. When I was at Fisk, there was an endless line flying towards the FAA controllers, all with their landing lights on so there were airplanes visible as far as a human eye could see. And sure enough, there was a crash on the field that closed the airport. Without missing a beat, the controllers just started peeling the Conga line off to the two holds, with maybe a half dozen pilots reporting “unable, low on fuel, need to get into Oshkosh.” The controllers did not waiver, the airport was closed, and to them, closed means closed. Those pilots who balked at going into the hold were told to exit the line immediately and vacate the area, and go to either Appleton or Fond du Lac for fuel, and then return to Fisk to try again.

I can just imagine the chaos that would have erupted if the holds filled up and all those inbounds had to start making left turns around a point, all at the same altitude. I can think of a million ways that could go wrong very fast.

So while I never got the chance to fly on 1964 Cherokee 235 into AirVenture via the Fisk VFR arrival, flying that approach as PIC is still a very high bucket list item. It WILL happen, maybe not this year or next, but it will happen.

And when it does, you can be sure I will give those controllers a wing rock like they have never seen.

There are few airplanes that command as much respect as the beautiful 747s (a pair of them actually) that serves as a “Flying White House” carrying our U.S. Presidents. Technically they are 747-2G4Bs, and in military terms, they are VC-25As. But when the President is aboard, there is only one name for these incredible airplanes:

Air Force One.

If you’ve ever seen one of them up close – or as close as the U.S. Secret Service will let the general public get – you know it is an awesome sight. I was lucky enough to be a hangar tenant at KEUG (Mahlon Sweet Field in Eugene, OR) when President Barack Obama visited our airport in 2015 and parked very close to the north hangar complex where I kept my Piper Cherokee 235. We headed out to the airport expecting layer upon layer of security, but were able to easily able to swipe my TSA-approved gate badge and drive right in. We walked to the end of our hangar complex, and were just across a relatively small ramp from the plane, and the people guarding it. They saw us, we saw them, and I guess they didn’t see a threat because a very small group of local pilots stood and watched it all, without an security coming our way.

Air Force One was already parked when we arrived, and wow, what a sight it is. But the real show came when President Obama departed. With four powerful engines that you just KNOW are modified the max, Air Force One was off the ground midway down KEUG’s 8,009-foot-long runway 16R/34L. This is a massive ship that blasted off like a lightly-loaded Gulfstream, and it further increased the already huge respect I had for these airplanes.

So when the chance came my way to review a new book by Quarto Knows (quartoknows.com) called Air Force One – The Aircraft of the Modern U.S. Presidency, I jumped at the opportunity. Authors Robert Dorr and Nicholas Veronico have done a masterful job of covering the many planes that have carried our Presidents from all angles. Here is just a taste.

The book opens with a look at the operations and procedures of the “Flying White House” and presents every detail in a vivid and clear way. From the Presidential arrival at the plane, to the minute the motorcade is safely driven away, this book gets seriously into the exact way this elaborate security dance happens. You will love every word.

With the stage set in the first chapter, Dorr and Veronico get moving quickly through the many eras of Presidential air travel, from the propeller days, through the coming of the “Jet Age” and finally more great “inside baseball” content on the current fleet of Air Force Ones. Every page on this handsome book is illustrated with great photography, from the grainy but well-printed shots of the American Airlines Ford Tri-Motor that carried Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the famous archival imagery of the day President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. You will see Vice-President Lyndon Johnson being sworn in inside the cabin of the Boeing VC-137C being used back in the day, with Jackie Kennedy stand next to him, and more shots of his casket being offloaded from the airplane. There are tons of great color shots of the various airplanes, all printed in very high quality. This is all iconic imagery, and is presented with exceptional graphic design and plenty of detailed photo captions.

I particularly liked chapter six, which gives you a great look inside the cavernous interior of Air Force One. No detail is spared in Dorr and Veronico’s writing, and you will come away from this chapter smiling. They get into as much of the defensive and security information that was probably available to any writer, and what they could get is well-written and presented. This chapter leads to a well-illustrated appendix listing all aircraft that have carried our Presidents, with specifications as well as where they are now.

I urge you to go here and buy this book if you like this topic, you will not be sorry. I predict it will occupy the finest of real estate on your best coffee table soon after arrival.

If you cannot wait, I am giving away one brand new copy of this book to a lucky Airplanista reader. Just use the form below to answer one question, and I will select a winner from the answers submitted. The person who really nails the answer with the best writing wins the book. I will select the winner on Friday, April 6th.

Way back in the day, I made a clunky, silly Facebook game called “What Airplane Are You?” It was game development 101, a typical Facebook game where you answered a few questions and the game told you what make and model of airplane you are. I uploaded a bunch of photos, wrote a few silly questions, and it randomly spit out the answer. It did not matter what answers you gave, the game just picked an airplane, and that was you. People ate it up, until it broke under the strain of one too many Facebook game upgrades.

When I played the “game” myself, I learned I was a DC-3.

Now while the game’s answers were totally random, it got me right. Anyone that knows me from way back in the day would probably agree with that assessment. I was sturdy, dependable, honest, and gave you 100% all the time. Let’s look at Dano back in those days:

From 1977 to 1986, I worked on a big produce dock in Fresno, schlepping boxes of produce from one truck to the next, from one cold room to another. It was insanely hard work, and pushing my trusty “clamp truck” (think large hand truck with two clamps you kicked shut to grab a stack of boxes higher than your head), I’d move as much fruits and veggies as one human could move by walking about 15 miles per shift. It was before produce was shipped on pallets, so everything came in on the floor of 45’ reefer or dry vans and had to be hand-stacked and trucked off to await delivery somewhere on the dock. And like a DC-3, I showed up every night, rarely broke down, and moved more freight than I was designed to move.

Fast-forward a decade or so, and you’d find me in another highly physical role, this time as a human forklift yanking gigantic (and seriously mucho heavy) pallets of tortillas out of my 53’ dry van for the largest tortilla maker in California. As one of their “Distribution Drivers,” I would cover Cali, working incredibly long hours and the work was killer. I would make runs from the factory in Fresno to various small distribution centers for the route drivers to pick up their tortillas and continue on to the shelf. Again, like a trusty DC-3, I showed up, worked hard, and didn’t break down.

Until I did. Literally:

When the job of pulling around pallets of corn tortillas weighing up to 1,400 lbs. with a hand pallet jack finally took its toll on my body, and the people at Workers Comp said they’d retrain me, I talked them into a full ride at the Graphics Arts Institute in San Francisco to learn graphic design using QuarkXpress. I had been in and around journalism and printing since 1979, so this made logical sense. It was a battle to convince Workers Comp I could be something more glamorous than the Dog Groomer or Forklift Driver they wanted to retrain me as, but I won, and here I am today.

That was the early 1990s, and since that time, I have undergone a massive conversion not unlike the ones performed at Basler Turbo Conversions in Oshkosh, WI. They take usable DC-3s, and go over every part, replacing most before stretching the fuselage, completely upgrading the panel and hanging a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprop engine on each wing. Their BT-67s are a work of art, very clean, well engineered, and they give an old airplane new life.

So when I got out of graphics school and opened the ad agency I continue to operate today, it was as if Basler did the conversion. Sure, I was a 1956 model, but I had undergone tip-to-tail mods that made me something very new and highly efficient. Gone was the gruff Teamster who could weave a seven-high stack of banana boxes between a stack of 88 Sunkist oranges and five 100 lb. sacks of Premium Idaho Russets. Also gone was the spunky lad who could firewall a Peterbilt up Highway 99 in the middle of the night jacked up on Mountain Dew and thread the needle between a drunk driving a Yugo and an overpass support beam with roughly 56,000 pounds of warm tortillas trying to crawl up my ass.

During my conversion from DC-3 to Basler BT-67, engineers determined that the hard drive (my brain) that came in 1956 models left much to be desired. So along the way, I have had numerous upgrades installed, and now I can thrash Adobe’s Creative Suite like a millennial. At the last upgrade, they also installed the fancy new social media module, so I can play ball in today’s youth oriented culture. My “airframe” is still a 1956 model, so it will not take the beating from a Rugby league, but since I am based on the DC-3, I can still mow an acre of lawn and whack a million weeds or cut a cord of firewood, because I came out of the factory in Fresno built to work.

So, what airplane are YOU? My silly Facebook game is long gone, and I am asking that you give this some thought and tweet me at @Av8rdan with your answer. Maybe you are like me and have had a few great upgrades and modifications, or it could be you have and always will be a P-51 Mustang fighter. Maybe you started life as a Convair F-106 Delta Dart but have since had the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II upgrade making you faster, more agile, with a killer instinct. Whatever it is, jump over to Twitter and let me and the rest of the #avgeeks know, and use the hashtag #IAmAnAirplane.

(Editor's note: This is me practicing green blogging as I recycled this one from 2011 in honor of my late father's birthday which is today, March 1. I think "Papa Louie" would have enjoyed this - dan)

By Dan Pimentel,

Airplanista Blog Editor

If you've ever seen "What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra, you know it's a beautiful and extravagant movie that won the 1998 Oscar for Visual Effects. But as easy as this great flick is on the eyes, it is the story that grabs your heart and refuses to let go.

So what does this movie have to do with airplanes? Great question…read on.

The movie’s premise is based on Robin’s own perception of what his heaven would look like after he dies in a car crash scene and is reunited with family that has preceded him in death. It is a living, moving Van Gogh painting, with masterfully illuminated, digitally created vistas that stretch to the edge of every frame.

Watching it took me to a place I have been often, a place I call my own Airplane Heaven. If the premise of the film is to be embraced, then we create our heaven in the image we imagine in our thoughts. I have experienced my own Airplane Heaven often, starting soon after my dad died in 1991. I have been there so many times now, the scene is etched in my mind forever.

In my Airplane Heaven, there are no Pearly gates or rivers of wine and endless tables of gourmet food, as some have suggested greet the chosen in the popular view of the storybook version of heaven. But there is an automatic gate that’s opened by keying in a series of secret numbers known only to those who are lucky enough to visit my magical place. And that river of wine…is actually an assortment of imported beer – mostly Guiness Stout and Kaliber – and the food is a combination of t-bone steaks, tacos, $100 hamburgers, organic greens and cheesecake. Those Brats the guys and gals are eating over at my never-ending Hangar Party are TWO FEET LONG, cooked on a grill so big it makes Johnsonville’s “World’s Largest Grill” look like a freakin’ hibachi.

In my Airplane Heaven, the ramp is filled with one flyable version of every airplane ever made. All are in perfect condition, gleaming under a crystal clear blue sky, keys in the ignition and the tanks full of fuel – which by the way flows freely from wells stretching to the horizon. Since this is my Heaven, I hold type ratings for everything ever made, and I get to spend my days throughout eternity making the daily decision about which of these many airplanes I get to fly today. Maybe I'll pull out the 787 or loop a few loops in Wayne Handley's Turbo Raven...the choices are truly endless.

In my Airplane Heaven, everyone is there enjoying the airport. There’s Papa Louie in his new HondaJet…and is that Art Scholl in the right seat? I suspect Art and Dad are going up again to see just how far upside down they can get that HondaJet today. Oh what, you didn't think an HA-420 was certified for aerobatics? Dude, what part of Airplane Heaven don't you GET?

And at the Airport Café (which has a tanker truck of Eugene’s luscious Café Pecori coffee out back) we find Lindbergh, sitting with Amelia and Noonan, talking navigation, no doubt. Lindy is toying with Amelia, showing her a new Garmin 796, just to screw with her head...he's like that you now, always the jokester. And check out the crowd over at Jimmy Doolittle’s hangar, gathered around his solid gold B-25. There's a juke box playing music from the 40s, and a barrel of coins next to it so the dancing never ends.

Yes, friends, if the premise of “What Dreams May Come” is to be believed, then this IS my Airplane Heaven. Only in the movie, they also visit hell, which is about as nasty as you might imagine. But what, you might be asking, is my vision of Airplane Hell?

Strangely at first glance, it appears identical to my Airplane Heaven. There before you stretch endless rows of perfectly airworthy airplanes, keys resting in the ignition. The WX is clear and a million, and you’ve got nothing to do all day but fly…after all, you’re dead, so your Daytimer is wide open.

Only one major difference…in my Airplane Hell, there is no gas. Not a drop of Avgas or Jet A to be found. All that hardware is there only to torment your soul as you stand helpless on a blistering hot ramp, awash in pity as you loathe your future, which could not possibly be less bleak. A licensed pilot could not dream up a scenario any more horrible, when off the horizon comes a low rumbling noise. The noise becomes louder, and as the skies darken with the wings of a thousand airplanes blocking out the sun, your hell becomes unbearable as all the guys from over the hill in my Airplane Heaven buzz you, one after the other, all grinning.

Yes, our world is what our thoughts make it. You can choose to live in a dark world filled with broken dreams, anger, and unsatisfied resolutions, or push on courageously to new and glorious heights.

I choose to push on – in the words of Buzz Lightyear – to infinity, and beyond!

If you spend any time on Twitter, no doubt you’ve seen the hashtag #Avgeeks floating around. For those of us who are in that community, we know what it means. But for many who see it and go “huh?” I thought maybe now might be a good time to expound a bit on the definition.

Let’s first start with the notion that everyone in aviation uses technology to some degree. We all have smartphones, we all use computers in our jobs and at home to catch up on all the fake news. But simply by using technology, most of us may not fall into the realm of #avgeek. To be a true #avgeek means going far beyond a few texts, emails and a little web browsing.

To truly paint a good picture of what the #avgeeks I know look like, let me dump you into the middle of #CampBacon at Oshkosh, the center of the #avgeek universe for that special week in late July along the shores of Lake Winnebago:

If you go to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and stroll into Camp Scholler, and walk to the rough vicinity of Lindbergh and 43rd, you will find it. “Camp Bacon” is where the show’s finest #avgeeks reside for the week, camping in tents or living the good life in RVs. While it cannot be said that every person at #CampBacon is a card-carrying #avgeek, every one of those #avgeeks can be found there. They are for the most part all involved somehow in coding, building IT architecture, app development…the kinds of things most of us cannot even understand. In fact, it is not at all uncommon to ask people at #CampBacon what they do, and have them just say “work with computers” because if they tried to explain exactly what they actually do, we mere mortals would have no idea what they are talking about. But while we are trying to understand them, a formation flies over, led by two B-29s, flanked by two B-17s, with four B-25s and 12 P-51s rounding out the overhead show. At that time, no matter what they are doing, everyone in #CampBacon will stop talking, and start gawking. They look up, and watch the formation until it disappears over the treetops. Once that happens, they go back about their business of cooking giant vats of chili, editing videos, programming apps in Python, or just charging 1,896,443 electronic devices.

It can easily be said that everyone at Oshkosh is in love with airplanes and aviation, that’s while they have wrangled the week off of work and obligations to be there. The #avgeeks are certainly in that group, but they just happen to be as deeply in love with technology as they are with the airplanes that surround them.

I consider myself an #avgeek, even though I cannot code my own apps for my iPhone. Not all #avgeeks can do that, but we all embrace technology as something great, in whatever form we can understand. I can work the Adobe Creative Suite at a Pro level, but could not “code” if my life depended on it. But I am welcomed into the #avgeek community just the same, as this group are my people, they think like me, look like me, act like me, they ARE me.

If you are reading this and say “hmm, I DO love technology and airplanes of any kind” then you probably already are an #avgeek. Embrace the title, feel good about being part of a tight community that has been growing every year at Oshkosh and around the world. Do a Twitter search for #avgeeks and save the search, going back to it every time you open the app. I bet you will relate to 99.9% of the posts in that feed, because we #avgeeks are cut from the same cloth. You do not need to be able to re-write the underlying code of Microsoft Word to be an #avgeek, you just need to have a respect for those in this community that can. I may not understand Python or fully grasp what many of the #avgeeks in #CampBacon do to earn money, but I support them and know that at the very foundation, we are more alike than not.

So go ahead, feel good about being an #avgeek, and start communicating with those on Twitter who already use that nickname. I can promise that you will learn something great along the way, and make a bunch of new friends. And when you get to Oshkosh this summer (you ARE going, right?) take a minute to find #CampBacon and say hello. They usually have a giant Chili and Jambalaya feed on Tuesday night, and the #avgeeks at my #Oshbash Social Media Meetup wander over there after my event. You are welcome to stop by, throw a few bucks into the kitty, and socialize with a bunch of cool people who are just like you.

I’d say you could charge your phone while you stop by, but every outlet will be full. Don’t even try, because #avgeeks have a magical talent of filling up any outlet on any RV, generator or power strip that could charge something.

If you’re like me and almost every other pilot that has ever pushed a throttle forward and watched the houses get smaller, you most likely have bought something from Sporty’s Pilot Shop. Since 1961, when founder and CFI Hal Shevers started selling pilot supplies to his students, Sporty’s has been one of the best places out there for the stuff pilots and aircraft owners need.

So I am both honored and stoked to announce that Sporty’s Pilot Shop is the major event sponsor for this year’s Airplanista #Oshbash Social Media Meetup event at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. This is significant because if you’re like me (and I bet you are), it is 100% impossible to not flip through the Sporty’s Pilot Shop catalog the minute it arrives in the mail. Even though I am not flying these days after selling my Cherokee 235 in May, 2016, I still look the catalog over, and am forever amazed at the complete line of about 10,000 products they offer.

It could be that one of their training videos helped you earn your private ticket or add-on ratings. It could be that you found the perfect kneeboard at Sporty’s, or trusted their cleaning supplies to remove the bugs from your leading edges with a LOT less elbow grease. Sure, there are other places on the web to buy pilot supplies, but if you need something in that realm, you know for sure that Sporty’s will carry it. They always have and always will.

But if you think Sporty’s only sells Johnny Jugs and bug cleaner, think again, Ace. Their website explains what Hal’s little pilot supply venture has become:

Along with their extensive catalog of pilot supplies and training videos, Sporty’s Academy is an FAA-approved Part 141 flight school and provides flight training for hundreds of students a year, including international students as well as for the University of Cincinnati’s Professional Pilot Training program. Their FBO, Eastern Cincinnati Aviation, was founded in 1988 to provide flight instruction, rental aircraft, service and fuel sales for Clermont County/Sporty’s Airport. The airport is also home to Sandy’s Airpark at Sporty’s, a gated, 13-acre residential airport community with wooded surroundings featuring common green space and access to a general aviation-friendly airport. In all, eleven homes with hangars will be built in this airpark.

The company’s Vice President of their Catalog Division is John Zimmerman, who has always been a supporter of this blog. He’s very savvy about aviation social media, so the sponsorship was a great fit. John did not hesitate to jump on this opportunity when I asked, and said "general aviation's talented bloggers, podcasters and YouTube pilots are inviting a new generation of enthusiasts to the airport. At Sporty's, we're thrilled to sponsor #Oshbash to celebrate these passionate aviators."

One of the things that’s made Sporty’s a success story is that it is managed by aviators exactly like you and me. Zimmerman holds commercial pilot, multi-engine, instrument, helicopter, glider and seaplane ratings, and regularly attends Sporty’s famous hot dog cookouts at Clermont County/Sporty’s Airport (I69) just outside Cincinnati, OH. He is just one of the many people at this company who know what we need for pilot supplies because it’s what THEY need when THEY fly.

As a gesture of additional support for aviation social media, Zimmerman offered to give away a Sporty's Air Scan Aviation Radio/Scanner to one lucky #avgeek at #Oshbash. I'm not sure yet how I will pick the winner, but someone is walking out of #Oshbash with this under their arm. Zimmerman did not have to do this, it was not part of the sponsorship package. It just shows that Sporty’s people are our people, friends of #avgeeks everywhere. They deserve your dollars because they support us.

So come to #Oshbash at Airventure on Tuesday night, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Press Tent just east of the Media HQ building. If you need vectors, go to the east side base of the FAA tower and walk outbound on about a 025 radial until you run into the large air-conditioned white “tent.” The venue is where the week’s press conferences are held, and as always, we should all thank EAA Communications Director Dick Knapinski for his generosity over the years making the Press Tent available for #Oshbash.

Thanks to the generous support from Sporty’s Pilot Shop, we’ll again have the very popular Bacon Jerky tasting from Pork Barrel BBQ. We went through 72 bags in an hour last year, so get there early, and be sure to bring your business cards as this is an awesome networking opportunity…you never know who you’ll chat up at #Oshbash.

You are coming to #Oshbash, right? It's where all the coolest #avgeeks hang out on Tuesday night at Airventure.

For many years, I have done the exact same thing inbound to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. I fly on Sunday on United from Eugene, Oregon through either KSFO or KDEN, ending up at KORD to play airline roulette and see if UAL flies that last flight of the day north to KATW, or cancels it as they have done many times. That always leaves a large number of #avgeeks stranded at the gate, many going into crisis mode as they had early Monday press conferences to present on opening day.

But this year, I am changing up my inbound routing, and it’s going to be a hoot. Instead of flying the usual routing, I am flying into St. Louis (KSTL) and meeting up with Derek Thomas (@derekwthomas) for a road trip to Oshkosh. Why? No idea…but the scheme was hatched one day on Twitter, and he sounds like my kind of people. Derek is a territory rep for a food service company, so he is as much a “foodie” as he is an #avgeek. I stalked his Facebook likes before saying “hell yes” and saw all of his likes were either aviation or food related. No hate, politics or fringe conspiracy theories. Just food, airplanes, music and fun…right in my wheelhouse.

I thought it would be a nice change to add a couple of days to my annual Oshkosh trip, to just cruise north while yakking about whatever as the interstate miles slide by underneath the car. But as the days click of the countdown clock towards #OSH18, this #avgeek road trip just keeps getting better and better…

After departing KSTL, we will eventually end up in Chicagoland to meet up with Isaac Alexander (@jetcitystar) who will be in the area and on his way to Oshkosh. We may check out some aviation museums, eat some good food, and could even run into @Jen_Niffer to join the fun as she is also driving westbound through the area on Saturday. I am cooking up some other things for our time in Chicago (unconfirmed tower tour at KORD or ZAU-Chicago ARTCC), and I do hope our visit in the area involves some serious Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

After playing around Chicagoland for a bit, we will depart the area Sunday and go direct towards Oshkosh to make our first stop at the FAA temporary Approach Control “tower” at Fisk. I have been there before, and it is a serious gas…those controllers are the best of the best, and they are a joy to watch as they shoehorn a long conga line of inbounds through the congested AirVenture airspace to a safe arrival. Cost of admission is some donuts, but the foodie in the group (Derek) suggests our afternoon arrival will make donuts the wrong choice. I will be counting on him to come up with the perfect edible bribe so the controllers can let us hang out for a while.

Since Derek is also staying at the University of Wisconsin dorms like me, we will end our Sunday excursion there, check in, and prepare to enjoy several days at the World’s Largest Aviation Celebration. There might even be a stroll through Camp Bacon in the evening to say hello to the best #avgeeks on the planet. That all sounds WAY better than being stuck at the O’Hare Airport Hilton on Sunday night like last year, trying to get on the first KATW flight in the morning, growling as I lose valuable time at the show.

*My arrival into the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration will be at 3AGL, about the distance between me and the interstate. It’ll be fun with a bunch of #avgeeks all headed in the same direction, all stoked to be on our way to Oshkosh.

As this blog is dedicated to aviation, you usually see only content in that realm on here. But today I am deviating from my preferred routing to offer a review of a new book that is something truly special. It is not about airplanes, it is about trading the stock market, and if you’ve ever thought maybe you too could jump into that fray and make some money, I personally recommend Swing for the Fences: From Debt to Wealth in 7 Steps by Jason Bond.

I have always been fascinated with the markets, and over the years, have dabbled at day trading always on paper only (no real money invested) and always ending up with a loss. After reading Jason’s book, I now know the lack of success was due to me not developing the winning mindset of a trader, not going “all in” on learning how trading works. As you will see in the book, there is far more to trading than simply buying and selling shares of stocks. In fact, even if you know a bit about this stuff, when you hear Jason’s story and see how he turned $250,000 in debt into a portfolio of around $7 million today, you will learn that actually hitting that “buy” button on any of the online trading platforms is a small part of what happens when successful traders make money in the stock market.

Let’s first meet Jason…

Jason Bond was educated as a teacher, and spent 10 years in the New York state school system as a popular teacher and sports coach. In that time, he and his wife amassed a great deal of debt – student loans, mortgage, car loans, credit cards and personal loans. The debt was killing his chances of ever building a solid financial future, and he knew he had to make a change. After reading the writings of Dave Ramsey, Jason and his wife set out on a four-year hard-fought journey to rid themselves of debt, and succeeded. He had always wanted to learn to trade stocks, and after learning the basics, began trading profitably for a big online stock picking website. But he soon found out that he could use his teaching skills to mentor others to learn what he was doing, and that work morphed into a giant community of people he mentors today at jasonbondpicks.com. With over 7,000 members, he passes along his huge knowledge of trading by being authentic, and showing everyone what he trades every day and why he makes those trades. One of the best things about what he does today is to not only show his winning trades – which are really something to see – but also his losses…and there will be losses. He does not sugar coat anything, and when he makes a bad call and loses, he does a video to analyze why the trade failed, and turns every loss into a teaching moment for his members.

I am one of those members, and after reading his book, I have been watching his training videos and practicing his strategies in a paperMoney platform from TD Ameritrade. I can assure you that what he teaches works, but only if you truly go “all in” and are determined to first try it his way before experimenting on your own. I’ve been at this for six months now, and only in the last two weeks have I enjoyed consistent wins and very worthwhile profit. Yes, it is all still in the “paper trading” realm, but Jason’s advice to learn first and spent as long as it takes trading “paper” to build up your skills is very important.

Swing for the Fences: From Debt to Wealth in 7 Steps is not a step-by-step instruction manual on how to trade stocks. He does not give you intimate details of each trade, or provide many examples of winning trades. For that, you need to sign up for his service, watch his videos carefully, and invest the time to truly learn it all, because there are an endless number of things to learn.

Instead of a step-by-step guide, Jason has written the perfect book for someone who wants to get into trading but is not sure if it is right for them. He covers a lot of ground, but probably the most important content for me was information on how to determine if you personally have the intestinal fortitude to trade. The emotional element of trading is what usually destroys rookie traders, causing them to react to their emotions of fear and greed and not to the technical information that is right there in front of them. And when you start trying to trade (on paper first please), the element of greed is something that has to be understood and mitigated:

After watching Jason’s training videos – most of them twice – I equipped myself with the tools needed to spot a winning trade set-up, learned how to read charts, dissect financial information about companies, and thought I was ready to start trading…again only on paper. But what happened is this: I would establish a daily profit goal, with the intention of stopping trading once I hit that benchmark. Say I’d be looking for $500 profit in a day. Using his strategies, that number was very easy for me to hit. In my world, and if I were trading for real, $500 a day would be huge. But I often hit that mark one hour into the day’s trading session, and would continue to watch the markets fluctuate. In that time, greed would take over, and I’d get back into what would usually be losing trades, wipe out the day’s profit and often erase some of the profits I made previously. I had let greed win, and was not following Jason’s strategy exactly. How stupid does one have to be to ignore someone who turned his kind of debt into a portfolio worth over $7 million? This guy has made over sixty grand in the first few trading days of 2018! He knows his stuff, but I had not mastered the fine art of reining in my emotions. I had not gained the “winner’s mindset” Jason writes about in his book.

Now, I am happy to report that the greed gremlin is behind me. I have had 10 profitable days of paper trading out of the last 11 days, and the one losing day was due to a massive Internet connectivity issue when I was offline and didn’t notice a big trade I made had dumped over $1.00 a share. I would have gotten out with a small loss had I seen the dump happening.

This is the kind of thing that makes Swing for the Fences: From Debt to Wealth in 7 Steps such a valuable book if you want to learn how to trade stocks. There are probably a million stock pickers on the web, but Jason will teach you how to build the right foundation to give yourself a competitive advantage against the other traders in the game. He relates trading to sports in the book, writing that in baseball, you need to be “Swinging for the Fences” every time you step up to the plate…anything less will not do. He explains in clear detail how to evaluate your own personal traits, and through easy-to-read chapters, the book lines out every aspect of how a trader needs to think in order to consistently win.

So if you have ever wanted to invest some money and trade stocks but were not sure if it is right for you, drop the $24.99 ($15.99 paperback, $9.99 Kindle) and read every word of Jason’s book. You might come away knowing swing trading like he does (buy and hold 1-4 days) is not for you, avoiding huge financial losses if you get in and do it all wrong.

Or, like me, you will find out that there is a way to “go all in” and learn this stuff from the bottom up, and develop the skills through extensive paper trading to fund your account and trade for real. Jason’s members are making a LOT of money every day, not just mirroring his picks but using his strategies to pick their own. I am running about 50/50 his picks and mine, and I assure you when you apply his strategies, good things happen.

And now I return you back to aviation and airplanes, my usual fare on here. And speaking of airplanes, I am seeing one in my future. I should be ready to trade for real in 2018, and if I have the kind of success that is possible by learning what Jason Bond teaches and applying it to smart trades every day, the possibilities for me filling a future hangar are endless.

Hmm, I wonder what owning a Cirrus SR-22T would be like. Oh wait, I already know…

Since kids began hearing the tale of how their gifts end up under the tree on Christmas morning, they've been told about a jolly fat man with a big white beard flying through the night in a flying sleigh powered by a team of eight magical reindeer. Yes, it's been a great ride for this story, but it has come time for Santa to upgrade from that worn out old truck of a sleigh he has used for generations.

As Airplanista does each Christmas season, we've again sent our writer to go undercover up at the North Pole to get the real scoop on what Santa and those Elves are doing. In the past, we've reported on morale issues in the workshops, with disgruntled Elves threatening work stoppages if they had to work more unpaid overtime. We've also reported that while Santa's current flying sleigh is rather dated, it is also screaming fast, and despite a full steam gauge panel, is still capable of making instrument approaches to every rooftop in the world in one night...in full IMC.

But on this trip up to the North Pole, Airplanista's reporter was the only journalist allowed full access into Santa's SkunkWerx, and we are now able to break this huge news story. Inside the SkunkWerx, Santa and a team of retired Boeing engineers have been building something that no other aviation news outlet knows about...a "next gen" gift delivery system called the Sleighmaster 3000ti:

Behind a series of locked doors accessed only through retina scans and a DNA sample is the North Pole's secret development lab. With white floors and a sterile environment, you might think this is where silicon chips are being invented. But at the center of this "clean room" sits the Sleighmaster 3000ti, the uber-secret new sleigh Santa hopes to unveil in a couple of weeks. It is longer, taller and much more sleek that the old sleigh we've seen on Christmas cards of yesteryear, and through "clean sheet" design, the 3000ti introduces the latest in aerodynamics, reducing drag coefficients to unheard of levels. But the real jaw-dropper is the choice of power. Gone are the reindeer, replaced by Santa's own brand of turbofan engines, mounted in a "UTGCHEM" configuration, for "under the gift cargo hold engine mount" system.

Our reporter has discovered that the new engines powering Santa's 3000ti sleigh are similar in design to the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines that power Boeing's Triple 7 family of airliners:

Santa's new XMB7000R-2 engines are three-shaft high bypass ratio turbofan engines, each with a dry weight of 19,345 pounds. Each has eight-stage compressors, a 12-stage HP compressor, and double annular combustors with 48 fuel injectors per engine. Maximum thrust on each engine is 93,400 pounds at max takeoff weights.

From this post last holiday season on Airplanista, we know Santa has to get it on in order to hit every house in the world in one night. And while many #Avgeeks did team up to "pimp" Santa's old sleigh last year, it was not enough, as a couple of neighborhoods in Ottumwa, Iowa had to be missed to stay on schedule. Santa - being a stickler for perfection - came back to the North Pole fuming, and after taking one day off to log his flight, he began putting together the team to design and build the Sleighmaster 3000ti.

Everything was going along perfectly through design and flight testing, but Airplanista has learned that certification has been problematic and the 3000ti project has suffered delays and setbacks, much like so many other manufacturers has discovered when trying to bring a new design to market:

Daunting and expensive, the FAA certification process is thought by many in the aviation world to be the primary hindrance towards substantial GA growth. New airplanes get stuck in certification hell, and manufacturers blow through millions in venture capital before getting anywhere close to a type certificate. With the Sleighmaster 3000ti, the story is the same...cumbersome regulations causing unnecessary delays. As the hard deadline of a Christmas Eve flight approaches, tension is palpable at the North Pole because the old sleigh is out of annual and parts are no longer available.

Right now, the 3000ti has flight tested perfectly, and is waiting for that TC to arrive from Oklahoma City. But Airplanista has learned that there are two issues that could very well harpoon the entire process, grounding the Sleighmaster indefinitely, and putting the entire Christmas gift delivery flight in doubt.

First are issues with the cargo hold, which must be built to carry the estimated 8.25 MILLION tons of gifts needed to deliver to boys and girls around the world. FAA inspectors recently discovered that the structure under the gift hold - which is part of the "UTGCHEM" design - could only hold 70,957 gifts per square inch, about 5,560 short of the minimum capability for transportation of gifts as outlined in FAR Part 1669-A, subpart 5, section 3, paragraphs 1 and 2. Engineers have been trying to find a workaround to satisfy FAA, but so far, the North Pole FSDO refuses to issue the field approval to allow the planned December 24th departure.

But while the structural deficiencies may well end up being remedied, the bigger issue is those mega-jet engines, in particular, the noise levels that they emit. FAR Part 1669-A, subpart 2, section 4, chapter 1, rule 56b was written back when sleighs were powered by magic reindeer - and the FAA has been quiet about possible rulemaking to update the regulation - so anything over the sound of a reindeer fart has always been unacceptable. FAA noise regs for sleighs say maximum decibel levels must not exceed 0.23 dB on takeoff, but the new XMB7000R-2s on the Sleighmaster 3000ti produce 156 dBs, so they are now out-of-service until a fix can be designed.

"We've tried everything," said Lead design Elf Wrench B. Turnin, "including a deflector on the back of each engine to fool the Feds into thinking the new engines are quiet enough to allow Christmas to take place. I mean, really...zero point two three dB? Are they f-ing KIDDING? I can burp louder than that! But they are on to us...so keep this on the QT...we're going to try sticking 5,789,142 bags of marshmallows into each engine in hopes it will muffle the sound just enough to get these FSDO goons off our six. By the time we blast off outta here and reach Anchorage, we'll be spittin' roasted marshmallows out the back of these big honking puppies we have for engines. And, with a little chocolate and a few tons of Graham Crackers, we'll be layin' down a layer of S'Mores all across the frozen tundra that the FAA can chew on!"

As the important Christmas flight approaches, Santa assures Airplanista that he has the FAA inspectors just where he wants them, and he's confident he'll get the sleigh's TC in time to launch on his gift run. "Those inspectors have kids, know what I'm sayin?" said Santa, winking. "Would be a damn shame if those children woke up to see no gifts under the tree this year because their parents couldn't, you know, work wit' me on this."

This is a developing story, and Airplanista has boots on the ground at the North Pole ready to report any news as it happens. Stay tuned to this blog for updates, in real-time, thanks to the dedication of our embedded aviation journos on the scene and an awesome wi-fi connection at the hotel where we have set up base camp.

These days, I spend a lot of time thinking (and writing) about business aviation. As a freelance aviation scribe, it seems more and more assignments cross my desk in this realm every week. And each time I launch a new project, it hits me that here we are in 2017 and business aircraft are still the secret weapon of choice for many companies who want to find that one extra advantage over their competition.

The idea for this post came while lounging in the sauna at my gym. Chit-chat ensued, and a guy asked me what I did. When I told him I was a writer, and he asked what I wrote. “Most writing about business aviation these days,” I told him. “You mean, like movie stars in private jets?” was his reply. I swiftly and thoroughly explained that no, “business aircraft” does not just mean movie stars eclipsing the poles in their Gulfstream to sip Chardonnay in Paris. Of course that happens, good for them, they have the net worth to afford the best form of air travel ever invented. But he had it all wrong.

I told him that the vast majority of business aircraft are used as tools by smart companies to transport their key people more efficiently. I explained that a business aircraft can take many forms, from small to very large…but they all serve the very same purpose. To further illustrate my point, I presented these three stories:

Back in the late 1990s, I landed a job as Director of Marketing at a company in Central California that manufactured air brakes for large commercial trucks. I beat out two people with Masters degrees because the owner who was interviewing me was a pilot, and the company flew a retractable Cessna Turbo Skylane. When he found out I was also a pilot, well you know how we aviators stick together, right?

I got the job, and spent many hours in that Skylane flying between Fresno and Yuma, AZ, just across the border from where their factory was in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. The owner and his son made weekly flights down there, often loading it up with cartons of air brakes on warranty return destined for remanufacturing. You know that joke about a Skylane being able to haul anything you can slam the doors on? Believe it. While they did take great care to never exceed legal gross weight, I can tell you most flights had mere ounces to spare.

This Skylane was a workhorse for the owners. It was their non-stop ticket from Fresno to Yuma, and if something went haywire at the factory at 10 a.m., the owner could blast off from KFAT, suck up the gear, get the turbo blowing and be down there in early afternoon to sort things out.

This is what a business airplane can do.

Then there was the flight from KORD to KSFO coming home from Oshkosh one year. I was seated next to a burly construction foreman who looked right out of central casting, without the hard hat. He obviously had been working hard all day, and he and eight of his crew around us were heading off to the next job site to install very large industrial pumps.

In our casual banter while in the flight levels somewhere over Ottumwa, he started griping about how his crew was always getting stuck at airports, how inconvenient the scheduled airlines had become, and how much it cost the company to check their tool boxes. But when he told me there were four nine-man crews in the company scattered around the USA also putting up with the airlines, the business aviation salesman in me sprung into action.

“Have you ever heard of a Pilatus PC-12?” I asked. He had not. I went on to explain that with four nine-man crews criss-crossing the country all toting large tool boxes, his company could buy one PC-12 and crew it to operate 24/7, shuttling these crews around the country. They’d save a ton of money and travel would be seriously more efficient. Drop off a crew in Dallas, hop over to Phoenix and take the next crew to Seattle. Deadhead to Boise for a pick-up and whisk that crew off to Atlanta. Rinse and repeat.

He was astounded that one business aircraft could do all that. I told him yes, it absolutely could. With the high dispatch rate of the Pilatus and sufficient crew to keep it flying seven days a week, he and his crews could be flown right into small airports just a few miles from their job sites, jump into a couple of rented vans, and be on site and working 30 minutes after wheels down. He was blown away, and promised to lean on the CEO to go shopping for a PC-12 as soon as he got back to the home office.

This is what a business airplane can do.

Last, there was the Morey family of Madison, Wisconsin. You might know of Field Morey as owner of IFRwest and one of the country’s best certified instrument instructors. He currently flies a G1000-equipped late model Turbo Skylane and a brand new Cessna TTx taking students on IFR Adventures throughout the West, including Alaska. Both airplanes are true business aircraft, as his business would be non-existent without them.

But decades before Field began flying these IFR adventure flights into “real-world” IFR weather, his father - a Cessna distributor - would load the family up in a Cessna and head off to do some aviation business. “My father was a "distributor" for Cessna from 1946 until 1962,” Morey said, “and he had dealers throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The dealers sold the planes to their customers and purchased the planes from the distributors. During the late 40's and early 50's, our family would tour the territory primarily on weekends while my father would conduct demonstrations of the various models, including the 120, 140, 170, 180 and 195.”

The 195 Businessliner holds a special place in Morey’s heart, and has done so since early childhood. “I was contacted by a young woman from Goodland, KS who owned a 1954 195A,” Morey explains. “The original logs contained the entry, "5-11-54 ICT-C29 H.A. Morey". She wondered if I was related, and yes, H.A. Morey was my father. She invited me to fly N2160C, the plane that I had the job of polishing as a kid while working at my dad's airport during the summer. It belonged to Oscar Mayer & Co. at the time and was a working business aircraft. I accepted her invite and rekindled my love of 60 Charlie by flying her around the patch in Kansas on a beautiful September day. The Cessna 195 was and always will be my dream machine."

That was just three stories of the enormous value a business aircraft can bring to companies large and small. You do not need to fly a Global Express to gain a competitive advantage over your competition; almost any make/model will do the trick. As long as they are stuck in traffic or waiting for the next airline excuse du jour about why their flight was delayed or cancelled, you will smoke ‘em when you utilize your own business aircraft.

If any of this sounds like a recipe for success your company should investigate, NBAA.org is the place to start. And if you are reading this while sitting at a large airport waiting…again…for yet another delayed flight to make you miss a critical meeting, well, there is a better way.